Buyer Beware: No Extra Leg Room Included in American Eagle Name Change

Flying with American Airlines has become a better experience over the last year or so, and we remain optimistic that the shack up with US Airways can only improve things over time. However, one area that has always been a less than awesome feature of the airline is its regional jet service, but we could probably say that same about any of the major carriers. Anyway, it looks like American Eagle and its regional jet operations are getting a name change, but we have to say that they made a somewhat curious choice.

American Eagle will be known as Envoy before too long, and that’s funny to us since Envoy is the branding that US Airways uses to distinguish its business class offerings. We just hope that future Envoy flyers realize that they are not getting a lie-flat seat, and instead are just getting crammed into a tight and narrow regional jet. We guess the powers that be wanted to keep the name in the family, so get used to something like "Operated by Envoy" being stamped across your boarding pass.

The American Eagle brand isn’t going away, as it’ll still be utilizing the name and colors as part of the carrier’s regional arm. At one point, the subsidiary carrier known as American Eagle was doing all feeder flights, but as time went on more and more little airlines joined in on the fun. Now that there’s a bunch of them—and more thanks to the merger—we guess the newly combined US Airways and American Airlines needed a way to clarify things. So, all of like ten different regional affiliates—including Envoy—will fall under the American Eagle umbrella.

No action is needed if you’re flying with American, American Eagle, or Envoy anytime soon; however, we just wanted to let you know, and reiterate the fact that even though you’re flying with Envoy, you’re not going to be enjoying what the old Envoy had to offer. Be sure to stretch those legs before boarding and bring something to eat.